Planell was born in Barcelona, graduated in Physics from the University of Barcelona in 1975 and earned his doctorate in Materials Science from Queen Mary, University of London, in 1983.

Since 1992 he has been full professor in the Materials Science and Metallurgy department of the Barcelona School of Industrial Engineering at the Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya.

[2] In 2013, he received the George D. Winter award from the European Society for Biomaterials.

An international jury of experts selected Planell for this prestigious award.

He was the first Spanish scientist to receive it and he did so “for his excellence in the research, vision and dissemination of the science of biomaterials, which is widely renowned in the scientific community”.